


The Stone: Part 2

by americanhoney913



Series: Sun that Heats the Sky [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Based on Twitter Art, Not just Catra, Warrior Cats AU, everyone's a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26505691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanhoney913/pseuds/americanhoney913
Summary: “Stay where you are!” Glimmerpelt hisses.Greypaw ignores her. She taps her claw against the other she-cat’s chest. “What did you do to me?”“What do you mean what did 'I' do to you?” she retorts.Greypaw snarls and pulls her paw back to strike Glimmerpelt when Baypaw slides between them. He turns his face towards Greypaw. “Okay, okay, everyone, calm down!” His ear flicks, whiskers twitching. “Wanna tell us how you did that?”The cream-colored she-cat scowls at him, her ears folding back. “I didn't do anything. All I did was pick up the stone,” she balances on her back legs, spins around, before falling back onto four paws, “and then, woosh, I'm a giant cat!”
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Sun that Heats the Sky [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906654
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 2!
> 
> If you haven't, check out the first work in this series. It has all the cat names and, like the books, has Alligencies and even a map that I drew of what the area looks like.

There’s a huge burst of light and then the badger screams in pain as giant claws rank down its side, fleeing. It leaves a trail of blood in its wake as it thunders through the underbrush. Baypaw wrinkes his nose as the tang of iron fills the air. “Glimmerpelt?”

“Yeah,” she says softly, “I see her, Baypaw.”

Baypaw’s tail flicks against her shoulder as he presses his side against hers. “Okay. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me.”

Both of them are in awe at the sight before them. Greypaw stands in front of them but, at the same time, it's not Greypaw. Her form is that of a huge golden cat, like the ancient warriors spoken about in legend. The kind as big as a Twoleg monster, with claws as long as branches, teeth sharper than a dog or badger’s claws, and tail strong enough to knock down trees. Greypaw stands in the middle of the golden outline, one paw outstretched, extended claws echoed in the outline’s claws. Her eyes glow the brightest blue, just like the stone. Her coat sports a patch in a lighter tan, similar to a bird's wing. It pulses, as if emitting the golden outline from the mark.

Both the she-cat and the outline stumble before the golden light flickers out and fades back into the wing patch on her shoulder, which stops pulsing. Greypaw shakes her head and stumbles forward. “Huh?” she pants. She shakes her head again before she spins around to glare at them. Baypaw presses his body close to the ground, but Glimmerpelt stands her ground as the other she-cat comes forward.

“Stay where you are!” Glimmerpelt hisses.

Greypaw ignores her. She taps her claw against the other she-cat’s chest. “What did you do to me?”

“What do you mean what did _I_ do to you?” she retorts.

Greypaw snarls and pulls her paw back to strike Glimmerpelt when Baypaw slides between them. He turns his face towards Greypaw. “Okay, okay, everyone, calm down!” His ear flicks, whiskers twitching. “Wanna tell us how you did that?”

The cream-colored she-cat scowls at him, her ears folding back. “I didn't do anything. All I did was pick up the stone,”she balances on her back legs, spins around, before falling back onto four paws, “and then, woosh, I'm a giant cat!”

"I don't care how she did it.” Glimmerpelt swipes the stone from where it’s fallen to the forest floor. Greypaw grabs for it, but she slides onto her belly with a grunt when the other she-cat dodges out of her way. “We just have to make sure she never does it again!”

Suddenly, there’s a loud roar from somewhere outside the devastated camp. It sounds like the badger… and it brought friends.

Baypaw knocks into Glimmerpelt, who drops the stone. It rolls for a moment before knocking into Greypaw’s leg. She scoops it up in her mouth and begins to run. The two other cats follow him. 

“Do it again! Do it again!” the tom shouts as they run. They’ve lost the river and make their way deeper and deeper into the forest. The leaves whisper through the trees and there’s bugs skittering across the forest floor.

“Baypaw!” Glimmerpelt admonishes, panting. The roars echoe behind them.

“Do what you did before.”

“I don't know what I did before!” Greypaw hisses around the stone. She can almost feel the badger’s breath on her neck, sticking of crowfood and snapping at her heels. She kicks out her back leg and hears a snarl as her claws tear at skin.

“No time,” Glimmerpelt shouts, falling back to push Greypaw forward with her nose. “We have to go.” She pushes them to run even faster, until there’s no more ground below them. The three of them scream as they slide down into a ravine, claws digging into the loose rock without getting a grip. Glimmerpelt lands first and the other two fall on top of her in a heap. Greypaw scrambles off first, shaking the dust off of her, before she notices the giant maw in the ground. It’s a cave with a rock stuffed into the mouth with weirdly shaped claw marks all over the side.

“What is this place?” Greypaw asks as she pads over, sniffing at the rock. 

A roar rolls over the top of the ravine, echoed by multiple other ones. Obviously the badger is still angry because there’s rocks shifting. One hits Baypaw on the head and he scowls. “No idea, but in there's gotta be better than out here.”

“Well, we can’t get in,” Glimmerpelt argues, her featherly tail swishing from side to side.

The badgers roar.

“Do you have a better idea?” he snarls, tail lashing, ears flat against his skull.

They continue to argue while Greypaw presses her paw into the grooves, then extends her claws. “What’s written on the door?” She feels two pairs of eyes on her, but she keeps going. “It might be some kind of password.”

“You can read that?” Baypaw asks. His nose wrinkles. “That’s writing? Those are words?”

Greypaw shrugs. “Well, they say something, so I guess they are. You can’t?”

“What's it say?”

Greypaw wrinkles her nose. “Uh,” she looks closer at the marks, puts her claws over them one at a time, "‘Eternal.’" The three of them jump as there’s a rumble and the giant rock rolls to the side.

Glimmerpelt snarls as her tail wacks the ground, kicking up dust. “Oh, come on!” Greypaw rushes into the maw, followed by the other two as the group of badgers slides down the ravine, kicking up more rocks. As soon as they’re all inside, the rock rolls closed. The echoing roars of the badgers make the hair on the back of Greypaw’s neck stand up. There’s nothing but darkness for a moment in the tunnel before a luminescent glow pulses along the walls. The tan she-cat sniffs at what looks like blue moss and sneezes when it tickles.

She jumps slightly when Baypaw brushes against her side. "So, Horde apprentice, have you always been able to read those weird claw marks?”

“Wanna tell us what exactly is going on here?” Glimmerpelt snarls.

“I told you” Greypaw’s ears fold back, “I don't know I just read the word on the rock.”

The other she-cat rolls her eyes. “Right…” She chuckles. “You read a word in a language that no one's ever seen before, and the rock just opened into a mysterious ancient tunnel… Sure.”

Greypaw snarls, tail lashing and ears folding back against her skull. “You think I did this on purpose? You think I wanted to be a weird giant cat? You’re the ones who did this to me!” She backs away from them, almost pressed into the wall. It’s damp and uncomfortable and she scowls. “You’re monsters!”

Glimmerpelt scoffs, fur fluffing up. “We’re the monsters? You're the monster!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” Baypaw jumps between them again. “Glimmerpelt, she _did_ save us.”

Glimmerpelt begins to pace in the small tunnel and Greypaw presses further into the wall. “I don't care! We can't just trust her, Baypaw. Or have you forgotten everything the Horde's done to us? The cats we're lost.” She wails and it echoes down the tunnel, turning on itself and coming back to them. “We need to find another way out of here and get her back to BrightClan as soon as possible.” Her eyes turn to Greypaw. “My moth— I mean, our leader will know what to do with her.”

She walks off at a steady pace, her feathery tail sweeping along the ground and creating a little cloud for them to follow.

Baypaw brushes his tail against Greypaw"s shoulder, his eyes shiny and kind. “Hey, so,” he clears his throat and gives her a soft smile, a fang poking through, “thanks for saving us from that badger back there when you could've escaped instead.”

Greypaw rolls her eyes, scoffs. “Okay, well I didn't save you. I just wanted to get the stone, okay?” Her tail lashes.

“Are you sure it's not because you secretly like us?” His teasing reminds her of Tigerpaw’s and something hard, like a rock, settles in her stomach. Oh, no. Tigerpaw. She wonders what’s happening back at the Horde. She wasn’t supposed to be gone for this long and Greypaw doesn’t know how long it’s going to take them to get to BrightClan and until she can escape. Shadowheart is _not_ going to be happy.

Greypaw chuckles, shakes her head. “Wh—? I don't like you. You're my captors.”

Baypaw brushes his tail over her shoulder again. “Sure,” he says with no hint as to what he’s feeling, but his tail twitches as he passes her to catch up to Glimmerpelt.


	2. Chapter 2

The tunnel widens until two cats can walk comfortably side by side. Glimmerpelt refuses to give up her high-and-mighty huffy ways but Greypaw doesn’t mind. All she wants to do is get back to Tigerpaw and keep the stone. She doesn’t even know if she wants to turn into a giant cat again, but she _knows_ the stone belongs to her. The small tom, on the other hand, seems eager to talk to her. 

“Thanks for saving us,” he says. “I'm Baypaw, by the way.”

“Greypaw.”

“‘Greypaw.’” He wrinkles his nose. “Ah. Weird name for a Horde soldier.”

Greypaw tilts her head. “Is it?”

Baypaw shrugs, flicking his tail. “Our clan uses ‘paw’ for an apprentice. It’s part of our warrior code. I didn’t know the Horde even  _ knew _ the code.”

“What code?” Greypaw asks, but the two of them are interrupted by the sight of Glimmerpelt, with the stone in her mouth, trying to repeat what Greypaw said to become the giant cat.

“For the honor of StarClan,” Glimmerpelt mumbles around the stone.

“What are we doing?” Baypaw asks as he sidles up to Glimmerpelt, his tone teasing. 

Glimmerpelt jumps and hisses. Her ears fold back against her skull and her tail goes straight up. “Nothing! I mean, uhh.. Look at these carvings.” As they’ve traveled deeper into the tunnel, the luminescent blue moss has been carved and scratched out. Greypaw squints because some of those marks look like the same claw-writing that she could read but the other two couldn’t. And there are drawings carved and scratched between the moss. They look like crude cats and stars and trees and rocks. Glimmerpelt traces one rock with her claw. “I think this might be an Old Ones' tunnel.”

“What's an Old One?” Greypaw asks.

Glimmerpelt blinks owlishly at her, eyes wide. “You've never heard of the Old Ones?”

When Greypaw shakes her head, Baypaw just smiles at her and explains, “The Old Ones were an ancient tribe of cats that lived in the ravine. They disappeared more than a hundred moons ago. My mo- our leader could never find their caves. But,” she gestures with her tail to the tunnel, “I think we may have.”

Greypaw shifts from paw to paw. “So, what happened to them?”

Baypaw pipes up and she jumps when he’s on her other side. “No one knows. They just… disappeared,” he says it like it’s a kit’s tale, made to scare. “The Horde didn't tell you about them?”

Greypaw scoffs, shaking her head. “Seems like there's a lot the Horde didn't tell me.”

“Ugh.” Glimmerpelt groans up ahead. “How do we get out of here?” she shouts and it echoes all around them. As they move further and further down, tiny crystals seem to grow out of the wall to join the moss in giving off light.

Baypaw sighs. “It’ll take forever to find a way out of here.” He turns to Greypaw. “Hey, you wanna turn on some light?”

She narrows her eyes at him. “I don't know how to do that.”

Baypaw’s bouncing from paw to paw. “Maybe there's a magic word.” His ears perk up. “Ooh, what's the Old Ones' word for ‘light?’”

“I don't know,” she hisses. “I'm not magic.”

“Obviously.” Glimmerpelt scoffs.

The sound of dripping water gets louder the further they move. The tunnel narrows until they have to walk one after the other, the stones brushing their fur and almost squeezing them. All of a sudden, the light is so bright that Greypaw has to close her eyes. There are stones like teeth coming down from the roof of the cave and up from the floor. There’s a hole in the roof that looks like a jagged crack that allows light to shine into the pool that sat in a slightly raised center of the cave. The teeth stones surround the pool. The moon reflects off the pool and lets the three cats know that they've been traveling through the caves for much longer than any of them thought. In the center, bouncing beams of light onto the walls of the cave, is a giant stone that looks like the moon but in the ground. One of the beams of light bounces off one of the downward-facing teeth and lands on a relief carving of a giant cat.

“Oh, hey!” Baypaw’s voice breaks up the monotony of dripping water. “That’s you!”

“What?” Greypaw yelps. “That doesn’t look anything like me.”

“No,” he shakes his head, “I mean, the other you. The scary giant one.”

“That was me?” Greypaw asks as the two of them walk over, Baypaw dancing in front of her, his tail flicking from side to side. She sits down, tail curled over her paws, and stares up. There’s a small cat carved with what look like long claw marks, like the word on the rock, and looming over it is the relief is the lighter outline of a giant cat. Those marks aren’t as harsh or deep, as if trying to depict the kind of glow that surrounded Greypaw which she transformed.

“You can read that inscription, right?” Baypaw points to some claw marks on the bottom of the carving. “What's it say?”

“It says…” she leans down until her belly brushes the stone floor of the cave, "‘Sun Heats Sky.’”

A bright light blinds them and Baypaw yelps, brushing past Greypaw until he’s pressing against Glimmerpelt, almost hiding behind her. Greypaw hisses as the light of the moon becomes a form and then turns into Hope that Lights the Heart. The one from her vision… that gave her the mark. She’s shining, like she’s full of the moonlight she came out of. A lithe purple she-cat with broad shoulders and bright blue eyes stares down at them. She’s standing on top of the water, almost hovering above it. Greypaw can faintly see the horizontal white stripes on her sides. Her long tail swishes lazily from side to side but the water isn't disturbed. Hope walks across the pool and her paws don’t touch the water and it barely ripples with her steps.

“Greetings, commander,” she says in a voice that sounds soft but also booms and echoes around the cavern. She looks down her nose at Greypaw once she reaches the edge of the pool.

Greypaw backs up. “Hope? What?” 

“What is your query?” the glowing cat asks. Her form looks perfect, but Baypaw leans closer and bats his paw out, trying to touch her. Instead, his paw goes right through, and the image of Hope wobbles. 

Baypaw’s nose wrinkles. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” He turns to Glimmerpelt. “Lightninghaze would love this place,” he whispers to her. She rolls her eyes at him and brushes her 

“What is your query?” the figure of Hope says again. No emotions. No inflection. Nothing. It was starting to creep Greypaw out.

Baypaw steps forward. “Uh... Hi.” Hope doesn’t move or blink or give any indication she’s heard him at all. “What is this place? How do we get out of here?”

“What is your query?”

Baypaw shakes his head. “Whatever she is, I don’t think we’re getting any answers.”

Glimmerpelt shrugs and flicks her tail to the side. “This place is old. I’m surprised there’s no cave-ins or threats of one at least.”

“Commander not detected,” Hope says as she flickers in and out. Greypaw looks up through the jagged crack in the ceiling. There are no clouds in the sky threatening to cover the moon and break whatever light is making Hope show up. Glimmerpelt walks closer. “Lockdown initiated.”

The whole cave begins to rumble. The pink she-cat scrambles back, fur fluffing up. “I didn't do it!”

“No. No. No lockdown!” Baypaw shouts. Greypaw pushes him back with her body. There are rocks falling from the ceiling as Hope’s image wobbles again. “No lockdown! Greypaw, you gotta get it to stop!”

Greypaw hisses back, “What makes you think I can?” Her ears fold flat to her skull.

“Query not recognized,” Hope repeats.

“There's gotta be a word or something to make her stop!” the tom shouts at her.

Greypaw begins to pace, dodging small falling rocks as the room rumbles. “Uh, stop it!” she shouts to be heard over the growing noise. “Uh, Eternal! Eternal!” She turns to Glimmerpelt. “Give me the stone!”

Glimmerpelt bristles, her lips curling into a snarl. “What? No!”

“We need the big scary cat.” Greypaw shakes her head. “I don't know how, but she's the key to this place, so maybe she can get us out.”

Glimmerpelt’s hackles rise, making her look even poofier. “You're Horde. I'm not giving you the stone.”

The rumbling gets too loud and the three cats jump as a slab of stone slams down, covering one of the exits to the room. The water barely ripples. Baypaw whimpers and makes himself smaller, curls his tail over his paws and cowers. Greypaw stands in front of him, trying to protect him. The two of them keep walking back until Baypaw squeaks and falls to the ground. The cream-colored she-cat begins shouting anything she can, including the word on the rock outside. “Eternal! Uh... Sun that Heats the Sky!”

Two more slabs slam down to cover more exits. There was only one left but, luckily, it was behind them. “Baypaw, go!” Greypaw shouts. He shakes his head and watches, wide-eyed, as Glimmerpelt braces herself against the side of the door. There’s another rumble as it begins to side down.

Glimmerpelt yowls loudly, “Hold on!”

Baypaw rushes forward, but Greypaw pushes him back. “We have to keep going.”

The rumbles reach a crescendo and the door slams shut. 

“Glimmerpelt, no!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "writing" of the Old Ones is based on Ogham, a Medival alphabet. I couldn't figure out how to turn the First One's writing into a version for cats because, obviously, cats don't have a writing system. But Ogham is a series of linear lines in the stone and each grouping is a letter. So, using their claws, the Old Ones have created something just like Ogham.


	3. Chapter 3

There’s no light at all, but their eyes adjust when the luminescent moss begins to glow softly again. Laying on her stomach is Glimmerpelt, grimacing, her fur ruffled. She stands up, wobbles, and Baypaw hurries to her side.

“Glimmerpelt!’ he shouts. She leans against him and sighs.

“Did it work?” she asks, a little woozy.

Baypaw chuckles. “Yeah, it worked. Barely. Are you alright?”

Greypaw winces when she sees the very end of her feathery tail missing. It’s not much, just the very tip, but it looks painful. The fur’s a bit bloody around the wound and a few beads drip onto the stone floor. “I'm fine.” She tries to flick her tail and groans. “Mom’s gonna kill me.” Greypaw doesn’t know exactly what happened, but she’s guessing that Glimmerpelt held the slab open for the tiniest moment so they could get out and just barely made it, her tail getting caught in the process.

“Well, we can’t go right home,” Baypaw says as he lets Glimmerpelt lean on him. “We don’t even know where we are. This tunnel could lead anywhere.”

“I'm just glad you're okay.” He licks her shoulder once and Greypaw looks away. It reminds her too much of herself and Tigerpaw. She can’t wait to get out of here and go home. “Keep your tail straight so you don’t hurt yourself. 

“I'm fine, okay?” the pink-and-purple she-cat hisses. “Let's just get back to camp.” She swings around to glare at Greypaw. “Why are you still here?”

Greypaw takes a few steps back. “What?”

“Baypaw and I are hardly crack guards.” She shakes her head. “You could've escaped at any time.” She narrows her eyes. “Why didn't you?”

“I just--” Greypaw’s ears fold flat to her head and her tail lashes from side to side, “I wanna figure out what's happening to me. And if I go back to Carrionplace, then I'll never know. I never knew where I came from or who my family was; Shadowheart said it didn't matter who I was before,” she shakes her head, “that-- that I was nothing before Redscar took me in. There's always been a part of me that I don't know anything about an-- and all of this, it feels familiar somehow. I don't know how else to explain it.”

“Glimmerpelt's mo--” he coughs when Glimmerpelt nudges him, “I mean, the BrightClan leader knows more about the Old Ones than anyone. Windrunner knows a little bit too because she’s our medicine cat and can also talk to StarClan, but not as much as Moonstar. They'll know what's going on with you and the stone for sure.” Baypaw smiles at her. “So, if you want your questions answered, stick with us.”

“Let's go,” Glimmerpelt says as she tries to flick her tail, but winces. “If we can find an exit, we might be able to get our bearings. Hopefully, we come out in BrightClan territory. We've wasted too much time already.”

* * *

Tigerpaw hunches her shoulders, trying to make herself look smaller, as Shadowheart paces back and forth in front of her. Her tail lashes from side to side and the red mark on her forehead looks like it's glowing and pulsing.

“For the last time,” she snarls, “where is Greypaw?”

“For the last time,” Tigerpaw responds with sarcasm, “I don't know. You think I keep her on a leash?”

“I know you're lying.” Shadowheart gets right up in her face and her snarls get louder. “You two are close. She would never depart without telling you.”

Tigerpaw’s shoulders sag and her ears droop. Her tail drags against the mucky ground. “Then I guess she let us both down, huh?”

Shadowheart turns to leave her area. “Have it your way.” Her ear flicks. “I already know where she is. We've been tracking her.”

“Uh, then why did you ask me?”

“Because you are going to bring her back.” Shadowheart’s milky white eyes seem to glare into her soul.

“I don't think so.”

She yelps as Shadowheart strikes her, batting her to the ground. There’s no claws this time, but Tigerpaw can almost feel the claw marks on her shoulder burning. “Your insolence will not protect her.” She gets right in her face. “You _will_ do as I ask.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tigerpaw snarks, trying to be tough. “Or what?”

“Or,” Shadowheart hovers over her, eyes glowing in the dim light of Carrionplace, the mark on her forehead pulsing, “you will suffer the consequences in her place.”

Tigerpaw cowers in terror as Shadowheart walks out of the den.

_Greypaw, where are you?_

* * *

The three cats emerge, blinking, into the sun. It’s been almost a full day and night since she left Carrionplace and Tigerpaw. She’s worried that something might be happening to the other she-cat in her place. She shakes her head as Glimmerpelt and Baypaw stop walking ahead of her.

She can hear voices in the distance, can see a depression in the ground, surrounded by bramble bushes, and she looks between her traveling companions. “Where are we?” Greypaw asks.

“Somewhere a day out from our camp,” Glimmerpelt responds. She flicks one of her ears. “The cats here aren’t necessarily a clan, mostly rogues, but they’ve seemed to band together sometimes. This is neutral territory.”

“But, uh, don’t mention anything about the Horde,” Baypaw adds.

“Why?” Greypaw narrows her eyes at the other she-cat. “I thought you said they were neutral.”

“Sure, they don’t like conflict-- well, their leader does, but her apprentice keeps her in check-- but they don’t like the Horde.” She wrinkles her nose. “We’ve got to make you look less… Horde.”

“How does that--?” 

Glimmerpelt licks her paw and musses up Greypaw’s fur. The other she-cat hisses and dances away, but she follows and continues to mess up her fur. “Will you stop?” She checks herself in a nearby puddle. “I look absolutely ridiculous.” Her ears fold down. “I feel ridiculous.”

“That’s ‘cause you need something to tie it all together,” Baypaw says cheerfully as he bites off a nearby flower from its stem. It’s a tiny pink flower and he puts it over one ear. “There. Now you won’t smell like Horde either.”

Greypaw hunches her shoulders and wrinkles her nose. “I don't like it,” she whines.

Glimmerpelt scoffs. “Point is, you don't look threatening and you smell more like us. Just keep a low profile.” She and Baypaw nod at each other. “We'll be in and out.”

* * *

Greypaw watched with wide eyes as the three of them made their way through a cleared path in the brambles that opens up into a wide expanse of plains with short grass and some ponds that look like they were dug into the ground with paws. Cats of all different colors and sizes mingle with each other. They all seem friendly and smell the same. “What is this?” she wrinkles her nose. “I thought you said they were all rogue cats?”

“It's a gathering.” He shrugs. “Like a big meeting.” He gestures around with his tail, making a wide sweep. “Where cats get together to air out grievances and talk about upcoming happenings. You don't have gatherings in Carrionplace?”

“Oh, right, gatherings,” Greypaw responds in a high pitched voice. “I mean, yeah, pfft, of course.” Her tail and ears droop. “I, uh-- I don't know what that is.” When Baypaw looks surprised, she shrugs. “There’s only us there. And the rats. We have tons of rats.”

“Ew!” Baypaw pushes his shoulder against hers and begins to lead her towards where some of the younger cats have gathered.

Glimmerpelt hisses, “Did you even hear me? I said, in and out!” but Baypaw ignores her.

“She has never been to a gathering before, Glimmerpelt!” he shouts over his shoulder. “This is serious.”

“Give that back, Shine,” a she-cat with dark brown fur and green markings yowls as a cat goes streaking by. Greypaw freezes and watches as the two playfully weave in and out of the gathering of cats. Two other cats, a she-cat and a tom, chase after them, laughing the whole time. 

The older cats seem to be in their own little groups as well. Sharing tongues and speaking of this or that as the three outsiders pass. This place is full of cheer and happiness. There’s no trash, no infighting, no waiting for something bad to happen.

“Gatherings are amazing,” Greypaw breathes.

“We should find Owl,” Glimmerpelt says after allowing the two of them a few minutes to be excited. “Let her know we’re passing through. See if she has any messages for Moonstar.” Baypaw nods.

They head over to where there’s a badger den that’s on a little hill overlooking the rest of their camp. This must be where the leader lives.

Sitting outside the den is a beautiful silver she-cat with heterochromatic eyes, one amber and one grey, and she gives Glimmerpelt a nod as they walk up.

“Hello, Glimmerpaw,” she says in a raspy voice. “So nice to see you.”

“It’s, uh, it’s Glimmer _pelt_ now,” the younger she-cat corrects. Owl gives her a smile with one fang poking out from her upper lip. “And we’re just passing through. Just wanted to know if you have any messages.”

“No messages, but would you like Bone to look at your tail?” Owl gestures with her own long, feathery tail to Glimmerpelt’s.

She winces. “No… Windrunner will look it over once we get back to BrightClan.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.”

Glimmerpelt’s about to say something else when there’s the sound of a yowl from the other side of the camp. Two cats that look identical, both with green pelts that look almost black, run over to Owl. “Outside… the camp. Intruders.” One of them has a large gash on her side and she stumbles, the other cat letting her lean on him.

“Pine!” a brown she-cat races over. She’s younger than the two cats, but looks like she could be their sibling. _The runt,_ Greypaw thinks to herself. The smaller she-cat sniffs at the older she-cat.

The younger cat hisses when she winces. “What happened?”

“Four intruders,” Pine whispers before she passes out. A small black tom.with a grey tail tip rushes over and begins to examine her wounds.

Owl stands up and yowls as loudly as she can. The gathered cats all turn to look at her, the younger ones coming forward towards the front. “Everyone, there’s Horde cats approaching. I know we’re not banded together like the clan cats but, please, help us protect our home.” She turns to a jet black she-cat who appears at her side without a sound. “Raven, get those willing to fight to the entrance. All younger cats, hide in your burrows.” Raven and some of the older cats head back towards where Greypaw and the others came through. A skinny brown tom hobbles out of the burrow behind Owl. He has a large splash of cream on his face and dark eyes, which seem to stare into Greypaw’s soul. Like he knows exactly who she is. Owl turns to him. “Screech, watch Shine.”

One small she-cat comes forward. She looks like she’s only recently entered the forest, still kittypet plump in Greypaw’s mind. “No,” she says in a wavering voice, “I want to fight.” Another young cat, Spruce’s runt littermate, stands next to her and nods. Two more apprentice-age cats stand behind them.

“Shine, you’ve only just joined us,” Owl says softly as she shakes her head. “And you’re all too young.” She gestures with her tail. “Get to your burrows. Now.”

“What can we do?” Glimmerpelt whispers to Baypaw. They’ve backed away from the rest of the cats and Greypaw joins them in their little huddle. “We can help.”

“What's going on?” Greypaw asks.

Glimmerpelt hisses, “It's the Horde.”

“Why are they here?” Baypaw asks the rhetorical questions. “The Thorns isn’t a threat to them.”

Greypaw backs up a step. “Did you say the Thorns? This isn’t possible.”

“Did you know something about this?” Glimmerpelt accuses her.

“No.” Greypaw shakes her head. “I mean, yes. B-but there's a mistake. The Thorns is supposed to be a heavily fortified clan, not full of rogue cats!”

Someone yowls in the distance and there’s the sound of fighting. “Do you really think that matters to them?” she snarls as she gestures with her paw towards the only way in and out of camp.

Greypaw’s ears fold to her skull. “This is a big mistake.” She shakes her head. “I just need to talk to them. See if Owl needs help.” She backs up until she turns and sprints towards the exit, shouting over her shoulder, “I'm sorry!”

“Greypaw!” Glimmerpelt shouts.

* * *

Greypaw runs out of the brambles, ignoring the thorns scratching into her skin, and skids to a stop just as someone smacks into her. The two of them go rolling until they reach a tiny clear patch just beyond the main trail into camp.

She blinks up and finds herself nose to nose with her best friend. She smells familiar and Greypaw opens her mouth to breath in her scent.

“Greypaw!”

“Tigerpaw?”

Tigerpaw smirks as her tail swishes in excitement, still pinning Greypaw to the ground. “They let me come on a raid. Isn’t that cool?” 

Greypaw shakes her head and tilts it to the side in confusion. “I don't understand. Why are you here?”

“Uh, duh,” she rolls her eyes, “we came to find you.” She steps off and finally lets Greypaw up. Both shake out their fur before Tigerpaw starts circling Greypaw, her tail brushing against her spine as she does. "‘Cover for me, Tigerpaw. No one will even know I'm gone.’” She snorts. “Did you just get immediately captured right after you snuck out?” She squints, wrinkles her nose. “What happened to your fur?” She begins sniffing the other she-cat’s fur. 

Greypaw pushes her away with her shoulder. “There's no time. We have to stop this.” She turns towards where the fighting sounds are coming from.

“What?” Tigerpaw tilts her head in confusion as she follows. “Why?”

“Look around!” Greypaw squints as they walk into the sunlight, but stays at the edge of what looks like a battlefield. There’s Thistlepaw and Fisheye fighting against the other identical cat, who seems to be fighting without thought. He’s bleeding heavily from scratches on her side and there’s a nick in her ear. Two more of the rogue cats are fighting Snaggletooth and seem to be getting the upper hand. “This is a gathering of rogue cats. It’s not a clan. They're innocent.”

Tigerpaw scoffs. “Yeah, innocent cats that kidnapped a Horde cadet.” She pushes her shoulder against Greypaw to try to guide her around the fighting. “Let's get back to Carrionplace. Shadowheart is freaking out.” She laughs and one of her ears flicks. “It'd be funny if she weren't such a terrible person,” she mumbles.

Greypaw stops inches from leaving the safety of the briars. “Tigerpaw, no.” She shakes her head. “I can't go back. Not until the Horde leaves this place alone.” She touches Tigerpaw’s shoulder with the tip of her tail. “Help me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, this is wrong. They've been lying to us, manipulating us. Redscar, Shadowheart, all of them.”

“Duh! Did ya just figure that out?” Tigerpaw snorts and shakes her head. “Manipulation is Shadowheart's whole thing. She's been messing with our heads since we were kits.”

“How could you possibly be okay with that?”

“Because,” she says it like she’s talking to a kit, “it doesn't matter what they do. The two of us look out for each other. And soon we'll be calling the shots.” She tries to push Greypaw again. “Now, can we go home?”

Greypaw shakes her head and backs up. “I'm not going home. Not after everything I've seen.” She looks over her shoulder at Tigerpaw. “Come with me. You don't have to go back there. We can fix this.”

Tigerpaw hisses, baring her fangs. “Are you kidding? You've known these people for, what, a couple hours? And you're just gonna throw everything away for them?” She wrinkes her nose. “Ugh. What happened to you?”

“I don't know,” Greypaw responds softly. “But I have to do something.” She feels tears bead at the corner of her eyes as Tigerpaw backs away from her, shaking her head, mirroring her own sadness. “I'm sorry, Tigerpaw.”


	4. Chapter 4

Baypaw and Glimmerpelt watch the entrance to the camp. Screech and Bone, the rogue medicine cat, watch over the younger cats. 

“What can we do, stuck inside the camp like kits?” Glimmerpelt asks as she paces back and forth. “We should be out there, fighting. We trained for this. More than some of those cats have.”

Baypaw frowns. “You can't say that. You're Glimmerpelt. You throw yourself into everything, no matter how hopeless it is. And we’re protecting the younger cats and those that can’t fight.”

Glimmerpelt groans and sinks to her haunches, shaking her head. “Every decision I've made in the past day has almost gotten us killed. My mom's right, I'm not ready for this.” She huffs. “She was wrong when she said I was ready to be a warrior. She was _right_ when she said I couldn’t do full warrior tasks yet, like protect the kill pile.”

“No,” Baypaw says firmly, “you are not giving up now. I’m sorry your mom doesn't see how strong you are. You can do this, Glimmerpelt, and you’re not alone.

“You're right.” She perks up. “We need Greypaw.”

“Didn't she just sell us out to the Horde?”

Glimmerpelt shakes her head. “I don't think she did. We need to find her. She can help us.” She turns towards the entrance. “Just trust me. Okay?”

* * *

Greypaw grunts as Tigerpaw tackles her to the ground. She tastes dirt in her mouth and feels a paw pressing her down, claws sharp against her skull but not digging in. Although she can feel the claws on her back paws digging into her rump, even to cause beads of blood to drip. “Oh, man.” Tigerpaw pulls away and dusts off Greypaw with her tail. “That was a lot stronger than I thought. Are you okay?”

“Tigerpaw!”

“Sorry!” Tigerpaw squeaks. “It was a reflex.”

“Why are you doing this?” 

“Because you left me.” Tigerpaw’s ears fold down and her tail lashes from side to side, eyes narrowing. “And if I don't bring you back, Shadowheart’s gonna have my head. So,” she snarls, “enough with your weird little identity crisis and let's go home. Or do I need to hit you again?”

Tigerpaw suddenly falls to the ground, reaching up with a paw to touch her head as she groans. There’s a little bit of blood dripping down behind her ear. Standing over her, claws extended, is...

“Glimmerpelt?”

“Come on!” The other she-cat pushes her with her whole body back towards the briar patch. 

“Greypaw!” Tigerpaw yowls from behind them as they race away.

* * *

Back in the Thorns, Greypaw hunches her body and tries to lick at her wound from Tigerpaw’s surprise attack, but she can't quite reach. She glances around and finds the small black tom putting clumps of cobwebs on Pine, being helped by a young light green cat. The she-cat’s runt littermate runs between a small paw-made puddle and her sibling with moss in her mouth to help. The other younger cats are gathering materials from a den below the leader’s, with the lame brown tom watching from the side.

“What are you doing?” Greypaw hisses at Glimmerpelt as a light blue tom, who looks like he should be a kit, comes over to her with a small clump of spiderweb held gently between his teeth. He sits down beside her and begins placing it over her small wounds. Greypaw’s heart swells. These rogues don’t know her, probably shouldn’t waste their medicine on her, but she nods anyway in thanks.

“Why did you save me?” Greypaw asks as soon as the tiny tom leaves.

“We need you,” Glimmerpelt admits. “Well, we need Sun that Heats the Sky.” She passes Greypaw the stone, still on its Twoleg chain-- although she doesn’t understand how it keeps going back to the chain. Like magic. “I should've given this back to you in the tunnel. You could've saved us and I knew that.” Her ears droop. “But I was stupid. And a jerk.” Glimmerpelt’s ears droop. “And I'm sorry!”

Greypaw gives her a soft smile and shakes her head, brushing her tail over the other she-cat’s shoulder. “You're not a jerk. I'm a Horde cadet. How do you know you can trust me now? “

“I don't.” Glimmerpelt shrugs. “But I hope I can. I feel like maybe you're here to help us.”

Greypaw takes the stone and slips the chain over her head. She touches it with her paw and shouts, “For the honor of StarClan!”

* * *

Baypaw’s trying to help one of the wounded rogues get back to the briar barrier, feeling the other tom’s strength beginning to wane. Glimmerpelt runs over to him and skids to a halt, kicking up some of the stones and sand.

“Baypaw,” she shouts when she notices him. He’s got blood on the side of his body that’s holding up the other cat, and she sniffs around him. “Are you okay?”

He nods but tilts his head down at Spruce. “I don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

“Please,” Spruce pants as he collapses, his eyes fluttering, “tell my sisters I fought for them.”

“We will, Spruce,” Baypaw says as he licks the other tom’s shoulder. Spruce gives one last rattling breath before he succumbs to his injuries. 

Glimmerpelt gently closes his eyes and touches their foreheads together. “May your journey to StarClan be swift and effortless.”

Suddenly, a bright golden light sends a wave of warmth over them and a giant something races past them.

“Is that Greypaw?” Baypaw asks. They can almost see her outline over the top of the briars.

“It's Sun that Heats the Sky,” she responds in awe.

* * *

Sun feels like she can pull down the sky as she tears through the brambles and bracken, not even feeling any of the thorns. She watches as the rogue cats that are able to retreat to the edge of the Thorns, eyes wide. Sun snarls and scratches at the air with her giant claws, deep gouges in the earth when they land.

Snaggletooth backs up, hissing as his back arches. “Retreat!” Thistlepaw and Fisheye look between him and the giant cat before they turn and run.

Sun flickers and shrinks as Greypaw wobbles before rightening herself. She's getting used to the energy used when turning into Sun, but it's exhausting.

Tigerpaw lingers at the edge of the forest, her eyes narrowed. The dust kicked up by Sun’s claws moving through the air spreads between them with the slight breeze. Heterochromatic eyes meet blue before Tigerpaw turns and walks into the shadow of the woods, disappearing without saying anything.

Greypaw takes a tentative step forward and whispers, “Tigerpaw…”

“You did it!” Glimmerpelt bounds over and wraps her paws around Greypaw. She can feel the chain back around her neck, the stone pulsing warmth against her fur.

“I did?”

“You saved us,” Glimmerpelt says, but her tail droops. “We only lost one.” She gestures to Baypaw. “We brought him back so they can give him a proper burial.”

Greypaw frowns. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save everyone, but I did it.” She turns back to the woods. “I turned against the Horde.” Her eyes go wide. “I turned against the Horde! I can't go back now.” Her whole body seems to droop. “Where am I supposed to go?”

“ Hey, hey. It's okay.” Glimmerpelt brushes their sides together. “You're with us now.” She begins to lead the she-cat towards the woods, away from the Thorns. “C’mon, let's go home.”

Baypaw pushes his way between them and shouts, “Best friends squad!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, Spruce.

**Author's Note:**

> So we've finally seen She-Ra as a cat. I didn't want to just make her a giant cat or a lion/cougar. Something unexpected.
> 
> Let me know what you thought!


End file.
